This invention relates to an apparatus for removing a cover from baled material, and more particularly to an apparatus for removing a flexible cover by cutting the cover to separate it from the enclosed baled material.
Heretofore, in the nursery and plant growing industry, peat moss and other soil material are packaged by compressing the material into a bale and enclosing the bale with a flexible plastic material for storage and transportation. The end user of the soil material, such as a nurseryman or commercial wholesaler or retailer of balled, potted or other plants having their roots covered with soil material, must separate the plastic cover from the soil material before the soil material can be used. Currently such plastic covers are manually removed by laborers with pocket knives, or other cutting instruments, slitting open numerous bale covers, separating the covers from the soil material, placing the soil material into some type of hopper, receptacle, or conveyor for further processing, and discarding the slit cover. One producer utilizes the services of two laborers continually, manually separating the plastic covers from baled peat moss, all day long, every day of the production process.